4 months ago

4 months ago

4 months ago

4 months ago

Big 12 M5: 01.31.14 Edition

As good as Kansas freshman Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins have been, lost in the shuffle is the improved play by junior point guard Naadir Tharpe. Tharpe finished Wednesday night’s game against Iowa State with 12 points, 12 assists, and just one turnover. That makes 17 assists to one turnover in his last three games, and a 3.3-to-1 assist to turnover ratio in conference play. There’s certainly a case that could be made that, while Embiid and Wiggins have been the center of most conversation around Kansas’ 7-0 start in league play, Tharpe’s improved play and reduction in turnovers has been the real reason why Kansas has been clicking as of late.

Like many schools across the nation, attendance for home games has been an issue for Oklahoma State at times this season. On Thursday, head coach Travis Ford practically begged students at the campus union to attend games at Gallagher-Iba Arena. To make the process easier, students will no longer have to certify their tickets before the game — apparently a big issue. With the technology available to improve the at-home viewing experience, this seams to be an issue across several different sports, and it will force athletic departments to get creative to come up with new strategies to draw more interest.

If I were to ask you to name the leading rebounder in the Big 12 this season, you might throw out names like Joel Embiid, Cameron Ridley or last season’s leading rebounder, Melvin Ejim. Instead, Oklahoma’s sophomore forward Ryan Spangler has proved to be an absolute workhorse down low for the Sooners, averaging over 11 rebounds per game in league play. Head coach Lon Kruger believes that Spangler’s attitude and work ethic has inspired his team’s improved play this year. Watching Spangler play like he did on Monday night in a win over Oklahoma State, you can’t help but appreciate the effort he puts forth on both ends of the floor.

In a new series on CBSSports.com, Jeff Borzello discusses a potential title contender with a panel of anonymous head coaches about the strengths and weaknesses of said team and how best to perform against them. Thursday, Borzello took a look at Kansas and among the many items he discussed, perhaps the most interesting was whether the panel of coaches thought that Bill Self had the point guard play necessary to win a national title. The consensus opinion seemed to be that with the way Tharpe has been playing, the junior point guard was fully capable of leading Kansas to a Monday night win in Arlington.